Recovery
by bigdogg0821
Summary: A Rhysha fiction by yours truly.
1. Chapter 1

Rhysha fiction setup o_o

The motionless body of the once energetic Sasha haunted Rhys' vision. He hoped and prayed that this wasn't a reality.  
He wanted to believe the story that just unfolded upon his very own eyes never happened. He picked up the body of the woman that he still hid his true feelings for and struggled to his feet. The blood dripping down his back would have normally made him freeze stiff, but for some reason it felt like Death himself was chasing him and his not-so-secret crush to the hospital, located about 7 blocks over. If it weren't for his robot arm, Rhys feared he wouldn't have made it himself to the what seemed to be Oasis in an endless desert, needless to say the injured and bleeding badly girl he was nearly killing himself to save. The revolving door felt like a drink of water as he took his final breaths,  
before realizing he himself was strained. "She needs... help.." Rhys' last words before passing out from exhaustion barely escaped his throat.

"What are your intentions with my sister?" "Oh uh, you know. I just like her, a lot. I mean it's just she's the one,  
I feel like." Rhys and Fiona's conversation wasn't easy to forget. He manipulated his way through other thoughts as he was struggling to find something. He didn't know what, but he was so determined to find it he didn't ask much questions.  
"I'm just letting you know, if you break her heart. I'm gonna break your face." This felt like an insult, not even the break his face part. "I promise. But you know we aren't even together." Fiona's emotion told Rhys that he indirectly just guilt tripped Fiona. "She's fond of you. She's talked with me before about it- about you." Rhys was surprised. Not much worked out for a Hyperion scumlord. "Are you comforting me or are you being serious? Because I would like that to not be just for comfort" "I know she's- not-so-you-..." The words faded off, like his distance from reality. Whatever he was, Rhys stopped dead in his tracks. Bent over, and picked up a ring. Engraved on it was "Pinky Promise"

Rhys arose with a gasp. He was in a hospital bed, with a single IV in his arm. He didn't want to pluck it out, so he decided to wait for a doctor or nurse to come. He covered his eyes with one of his arms as a car passed by the window,  
reflecting sunlight into the room. The car parked so he decided to just look to his left. There was another bed next to him. He didn't expect anybody else than his beloved. Her heartbeat was slow, but stable. He wanted to forget it. But the image couldn't erase from his head. "Rhys, where do you think Fiona and Vaughn went?" Sasha's voice began to echo in head. Before he knew it, he was practically living in this memory. (No, not again...) Rhys thought as he and Sasha were off to investigate where the other half of their group went. "Rhys, you're being quiet. Is everything alright?" she asked, concerned with his unusual silence. (No I'm not. We should stop here..) "Yeah, er. I'm fine." (W-wait no! I didn't say that!) He soon realized he couldn't control this. He had to witniss it unfold again. He attempted several times to escape, but it was of no use. "Well if you're not..." her voice trailed off as she looked under an abandoned boardwalk. The pegs holding it up dug into the sand. She started towards it, reaching for her Assault Rifle on the way.

"Hello. You're the Hyperion that brought the girl in?" a voice interrupted the memory. "Wh-what?" Rhys asked to clarify he was in the real world. "Hyperion. Bring. Girl." He must have confused him for someone who's challenged. "I'm sorry,  
okay when I'm stuck in a room with a needle digging halfway through my arm there's not much to do." the man looked at him skeptically. "She's in critical condition" the voice was beginning to distort. "She's what?!" Rhys panicked and felt his heart drop. "She's lost a lot of blood, but her condition is stable for now. It took all night to stop the blood.  
She's a fighter..." "Well what about me? I feel like my throat has a cactus in it." He was only now aware of his dehydration. "We don't have licence to treat you. We can offer a few glasses of water but be lucky we 'wasted' an IV on a Hyperion company man." (so everybody hates Hyperion on this planet) Rhys thought passive agressively. He wasn't in the state to get angry. "Can you take it out? I hate needles. Unless it's saving my life, you know." The believed to be doctor removed the IV from his arm. "You're the doctor?" "Well a white robe and all this equipment on me surely means I'm not some random citizen. You can thank me for treating that nasty concussion. It took 5 doctors to stabilize her condition, so we couldn't waste much time on you. To put it in perspective, she went from near death to now in a coma for an unknown period of time." The now to be confirmed doctor stated. Rhys, at this time, felt like he was hacking up a cactus, maybe the one in his throat. "I can get you some water, I'll return. Stay here." Not like he planned on going anywhere... The visions slowly entered his mind again.

"Rhys I think I saw something move. Fiona! Vaughn!" Sasha passive aggressively whispered. She moved towards the motion,  
and he quietly followed, reluctantly. "What do you see?" Rhys line repeated as he felt cold. He tried looking away but he had to witniss the whole thing again. Sasha moved in with her gun handy, being the recon. The sound of glass breaking triggered the memory's atmosphere. "My shiny liquid holder!" a familiar voice rang out. "Psycho!" Rhys screamed. Sasha was blantly aware of the psycho. She pulled the trigger but she had forgotten to load her gun since it has no safety mechanism. The knife was pulled. Rhys bolted towards the Psycho, but it was too late. "Eternal slumber!" the words haunted him, as he witnissed the knife enter her rib cage. "Rhys..! Help..." she screamed as she fell to the sand.  
Immediately after, he tackled the Psycho while screaming angrily. Rhys stabbed him with the knife that now had his desired to be girlfriend's blood on. He didn't stop after he was clearly dead. He foolishly unleashed his rage, as an unfamiliar feeling fell over him. He never had power, which he now had over the Psycho. It almost distracted him from the heavily injured girl a few feet from him. The only reason he would've stopped was the blood loss...

The vision seemed to have concluded. He never wanted to see it again, so he focused his mind off of it. He stood up,  
dizzily, and approached Sasha. He examined her condition, he concluded the doctor was lying to him. Her face was almost unrecognizable. It looked like she was a human gaming system, all the wires and etc. plugged into her body. A tear fell down Rhys' eye. He hated this sight of her. This may have been the only time he truly did not want to see her. Possibly the only moment in his lifetime he looked away. He sat on his bed to escape his dizziness. The dehydration was getting to him. Eventually, the doctor showed up. He took the decent sized glass and gulped it down. "Thanks, I mean if you aren't allowed to give me this of course. Well you know either way.." Rhys realized he should stop talking. "So you can stay with her if you want. We don't usually kick people out unless they start to freak out, so don't do that..." The doctor said as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Since he was still exhausted, he concluded he should probably go to sleep. So he pulled a chair next to Sasha, and rested his head on her midsection and his arms on her side.  



	2. Recovery-Chapter 2 Light In the Darkne

'Rhys woke up face down on the cold floor. This didn't seem normal, since he was a light sleeper. This would have awoken him. It didn't puzzle him long, he had more important things to consider. He was still waking up, so when he went to sit on Sasha's bed he forgot it was... Sasha's bed. He sat on her leg on accident and was immediately scared by the sudden feeling of bone. Reminded of her state, Rhys checked to see if she still had all of the technology and needles stuck in her. To his delight, most of them were removed. He also recognized the new hospital clothing on her, rather than her casual outfit. It's been about 16 hours since they abrubtly arrived into the building. He was shocked that it was night time. Rhys never was one to take naps or sleep in. Aside from that, he realized he should try to contact Fiona and/or Vaughn to tell them what happened. Thanks to Vaughn's glasses, he could call him. Thanks to Fiona's ear piece, he could radio in to her. He pulled his robot arm up from his side and called Vaughn.

The silence and redirection from his number to the Hyperion operator worried him. Vaughn wasn't the type to ignore a call. Especially from his bro. He now tried his ear piece to try Fiona. While waiting for a response to "Hey Fiona,  
you there?" he re-evaluated his reasoning. Why would he call Vaughn first... it was Fiona's sister. Rhys tried again.  
"FIONA! This is pretty imporant!" The sound of stirring relieved him. (At least one of my friends are okay...) He thought. "Wh... what do you want..." She must have been sleeping. "Okay first... Where the hell did you guys go!?  
Sasha and I were looking all over for you both." Fiona grunted as she felt this reason to wake her up was insignificant.  
"Didn't we say we were headed back to the apartment?" She asked, puzzled and irritated. "Well if we were LOOKING FOR YOU in the most dangerous part of town, wouldn't we have had a motive?!" Rhys was a little infuriated by this. "Oh. Yeah, by the way, we're at the apartment. Is that all you wanted?" He hesitated a bit to respond. Fiona yawned and repeated "Is that all you wanted..?" "Oh sure, by the way, update from the other half of your crew, we're at the hospital." Fiona paused for a second. "Well, what happened to you? Paper cut?" She hoped it wasn't anything severe. "Well, not me. It's your sister..."

Fiona nearly exploded with questions. "Weren't you supposed to protect her? What happened? Is she on life support?!"  
Rhys sat there motionless with a blank expression. "She... she got stabbed. Her hero, that's me by the way, carried her eight. No seven. No... eight? Blocks to a hospital, being the one I am located at right now. If you wake Vaughn up, I can give him the location. Fiona, I'm... worried. I'm sorry I let this happen. If she doesn't make it-dammit I don't think I would be able to live with myself. Do you think I should ask her, or would now be not the best time. Because to be fair all I had for a girlfriend was this girl named Stacey, back in my school years. For about 3 months." The suddent outburst of this questioned whether or not Rhys should have said it like that. Fiona took a bit to respond.  
She sounded like she was multi-tasking : getting dressed, talking, waking Vaughn up. "Uhhm... I would seriously not. If I got stabbed by a Psycho's small knife when I had an assault rifle I wouldn't be too pleased... VAUGHN! GET UP! Not saying Sasha's weak or anything. But as a Con-Artist, er. Former Con-Artist, it's gonna be like, a new experience for someone else to help you that's not family. You normally have to rely on yourself.. Which is not... a walk in the park."  
The fumbling of clothes reminded Rhys that she's in a hurry at the moment. He didn't expect immediate responses. "Well just try to stay near her. Don't like.. kiss her unconcious body. I don't know if she'll feel it but DO NOT find out...  
I would slug you if you did but how would I know... Rhys I just woke up and now all this. Do me a favor and don't mess with my damn sister. I do not know why I am still talking, it may be encouraging you to but... VAUGHN! god dammit..."

"F-Fiona?" Rhys asked. He heard commotion faintly through the headset. "Where are my damn glasses- ah ha! There they are! Wait no. That's a candle. AH! That burns. Oh. There we are an- Fiona?! How long have you been standing there-" Rhys was sort of relieved the mic was turned off at this point. He leaned against the wall, slowly falling to the floor. He felt lonely. As much as he wanted to stay near Sasha at this point, the room was fairly boring. If only he had Vaughn's watch. An Atari Breakout 1v1 sounded like the best right now. But who would be the other 1? To his surprise, such a stupid debate with himself passed 3 hours of time. He was distracted by the fumbling around in the bed. Sasha turned to her side, possible the first motion she'd ever done for at least half of a day. Suddenly, an IV lashed upwards as she completed the movement. "Ow! Damn thing that I can't. See." Rhys shot a glance at her. Didn't he say that before..? It's nothing of significance. Her being concious was all that mattered. "Sasha!" Rhys rose and approached her a bit too fast.  
He nearly tripped on top of her. Leaving his arms out stretched in case he fell, he met a stare with those emeralds that he missed so bad. "Are you... alright?" Sasha ask him. Rhys wanted to hold her forever. But he settled for a 20 second hug. She wrapped her arms around him as he nearly picked her up off of the bed. "Are you alright?" He repeated the line back to her. "You'd be surprised. Luckily, I think I am. But I need to know, where in the actual hell am I? And you, since you're here too. But. Yeah. Where are we?"

Rhys pulled up a chair. "We're at a hospital. I didn't catch the name but your sis-"She cut him off and finished his sentence. "My sister, Fiona. And Vaughn. Are on their way. I heard." She put a sly smile on her face. Normally, Rhys would be frustrated. Her smile just powered him to start a conversation. Eventually, after a while of talking, he knew she was very well awake while he was on the comm with Fiona. "Can I ask you something?" Rhys said. "Sure, not like I can make an excuse to not answer..." Rhys took a deap breath. "Did you.. hear. Everything?" Sasha put a playfully confused look on her face. "Well, no. I don't have a super power or anything, do I?" She said as she pulled the needles from her skin. Rhys sat there, amazed that she could take out at least 14 of them. "What's wrong, my hero? By the looks of it,  
you are worried about your saved victim." She continued her playful taunting with him. "Well I pulled some epic shit back there. Your eternal slumber was interrupted, sorry." He tried to continue the act. "Yeah that's my thing." She reached her arm out and lightly punched his arm. He wasn't phased by it, he sat there staring at her. A little too long.  
Sasha didn't mind though. "I'm happy you're okay..." Rhys said, in a more serious tone now. Sasha reached out for him,  
but she immediately winced back in pain. "It's fine.. rest up" Rhys said, laying his regular arm into her clenched fist. 


	3. Chapter 3 Settling In (almost)

'To Rhys, it was nice to finally hear Sasha again. He wanted to hold her hand forever. He couldn't place it, but something about her being there with him made everything bad disappear. The price for her care didn't matter to him. He would make the money, somehow. The cost wasn't important.

To Sasha, the sight of Rhys in the room with her made the aching pain in her side go away. She was glad the first few words she heard was the familiar randomness and awkwardness of Rhys when she regained conciousness. She felt bad she was costing her friends almost 5 grand. She insisted to go home, but Rhys didn't want to risk anything. He already almost lost her once, if her wound opened again, who knows what could happen. For such a small dagger it left a decently large aftermath.

Rhys was distracted. He nearly forgot to send Vaughn the co-ordinates of the hospital. Vaughn must have called at least 3 times. He relayed what his trusty Robot Arm told him to Vaughn. Fiona asked how Sasha was doing, Rhys nearly said she was fine when Sasha held her index finger to her mouth. Rhys got the message. "She's still unknown. I'll tell you if anything happens" He told them. He hung up and turned his Ear Piece off. "What're you planning?" Rhys asked with some curiosity. Sasha smiled back saying "It's gonna be good. Can you handle a little acting?" "Uh.. Nope." "Just play along when they come.." Rhys had no idea what was going to happen, he remembered his acting skills were a little,  
er.. Quite terrible. "I'll try. No guarantees... So how are you feeling right now?" Rhys changed the subject. "Rhys, if you keep asking me this question I think I'll go insane. I told you, I'm fiiine. There's been... worse. I guess. Just that I've never been to a hospital before." "I'm sorry. I just don't want anything to happen. You did just take those possibly important tubes and needles out of you without asking the doctor." "Well, yeah. Speaking of, what a doctor. He hasn't even checked on his patient."

Rhys thought maybe the doctor knew he was there. But he was no trained professional. "Did you look at it yet? J-Just to make sure..." Rhys asked. Sasha, who never thought to do such an action, lifted her robe to reveal the nasty injury. "GAH OKAY! That looks pretty... bad! You're saying that doesn't hurt?!" Sasha giggled. "Not as bad as how I feel about the price. I'm telling you, I would feel better if I could just go home." They both knew it was better for her to stay.  
Sasha didn't want to cost them all of their money. "You're worth a better place to get taken care of at. Home is pretty far from another hospital so we shouldn't go there for at least a few days. Please, just a few days?" Rhys begged. Sasha hated when he begged. "... Alright! Alright. Fine. But 2 days is all. then I'm going home, if I have to walk." Sasha reluctantly agreed. Rhys was relieved. "But why do you care about me so much? I haven't done anything for you." Rhys was not relieved. "Y-you exist. That's a-all I need." He answered with the confidence of a tiger with a panda's teeth. He met her gaze after he looked up from the ground.

"Well, come on." Sasha said as she shifted to a sitting position in the bed. "Where are you going?" Rhys stood up and approached her. "I'm hungry." She stated. "You're just gonna up and walk out?" "Rhys. I am hungry." "But you have to wait for a doctor to bring you food. See that button over there?" He pointed, she looked. "Oh yeah, I heard people talking on that. I guess I need to push it?" "Yep. You can't play with it, it's only meant for important stuff. Just tell them you wa-" he was interrupted as she immediately pushed the button and said "I want food." A robotic voice said "Who is this? Asking would be nice. I'm not a slave." "Oh right. Sorry. Please give me food." "Thank you. Room number?" She motioned for Rhys to go check. "52." "52." "52?" "52." "We have Jelly, more Jelly... and Jelly. A wide selection. Please do take your time." "Hmmmm. The Jelly sounds promising. But I think I have to choose Jelly." "Excellent choice! Flavor? Quantity?" "You have one blue raspberry?" "I do see a blue right here. Sending now! Enjooyyyy!" Next to the button,a seemingly invisible until now small elevator for items to be transported to rooms. She took the Jello out and turnedto lay back down. "See? I don't need you to help me with everything. Figured that out by myself!"

Again, neglecting her condition, she did what she was used to doing in any old bed. She hopped backwards and upon impact regretted it. Her screams sent bad visions to Rhys. The blood on her gown scared him even more. "Sasha! Oh my god oh my god!" A few doctors entered the room and saw the two, without the blood they wouldn't be able to tell who needed help. They rolled her bed out of the room and rushed off somewhere else. Rhys tried to follow but lost the group with how fast they were moving. He felt he was in a maze, and it wasn't only the mass amounts of turns and twists. His mind raced with how fast everything just happened. To top it all off, he heard the familiar voices of his other 2 friends,  
which called his name as he stood stiff. They approached him as he turned to face them. "Why are you out here? I told you to stay with Sasha. Which room is she in?" "Well, convenient timing. They just rushed her out of that room over there. She jumped to get back on her bed and she started to bleed again. "You just let her!?" "Yes Fiona, I allowed her to jump to her bed when I was at least 5 feet from her." "She's right, Rhys. You gotta protect your gal from the unexpected." "Wh- wai- what! You told Vaughn!?" "Why not." "Yeah, you trusted Fiona with such valuable information over me? I could have teased you so much!" "Don't worry, Fiona's already done that. We should find Sasha now. Not like we have any leads but it's better than nothing." The group started down the hall to the first of 5 sets of rooms, each parallel from each other.' 


	4. Chapter 4 Well you're cute when

The things the group saw when they entered wrong room after wrong room scarred them for life. Rhys was probably the only one to keep a straight face. He couldn't care less. Eventually, Vaughn, when dodging the view of someone in the middle of a kidney transplant, noticed the names in LED lights above each door. They rushed to Sasha's previous room and saw the LED slate said nothing. All this meant was the search was easier and less time consuming. To Rhys' emberassment, they only moved Sasha 3 rooms over. "WHAT! I saw someones EYES get gauged out, twice! And a functioning kidney. Full of kidney sto- Gahhh let's just go." Rhys, being the closest to the door, opened it.

They had gauze held to Sasha's side, and the doctors all looked up at the group. Rhys approached Sasha first, and the doctor pulled a gun. "The patient is not fully recovered!" The doctor yelled. "What are you doing to her?" "Treating her of course. Now back away." Rhys contemplated if he should back up for his and Sasha's safety, or try to disarm the guard to make sure he doesn't do anything. He decided he should try the latter. To his demise, he was immediately whacked in the head with the gun. Fiona and Vaughn stood there with a look of shock in their eyes. "U-He-Wh-Can we- um..." Vaughn tried to speak but couldn't mouth any words. "He was an example. Don't interrupt our work! Or elsssse."  
Rhys lost conciousness as the doctor finished his statement.

"Hey Rhys, wanna come to the Shriek Streak with me?" Sasha asked him as they were walking in an unknown location. "Aww you know I'm scared of heights!" he replied. The realization that this was what happened in the theme park from a year ago shocked him, he totally forgot it. "I'll be there, it's gonna be fun! Watch." Sasha guaranteed. Rhys felt a certainly small boost of confidence. "Alright. But it goes pretty high..." Rhys had to look straight up to see the point the coaster sky rocketed down. "Are you sure we can't go another round on the merry-go-round?" He followed up. "Yes Rhys, I am sure 5 times was enough. Let's go." She practically dragged him through the line. "It- so high.. tall... scary. Look I just had a nacho and I don't think this is gonna work ou-" "Oh stop crying baby" "No tears here... Just... very.. nauuuuuuseous-ohmygod we're at the end of the line I'm not ready to die." He was terrified. "No backing out!" "No backing out.." they sat next to each other in the cart, and headed straight upwards. Rhys winced his eyes shut in preperation.

Rhys opened his eyes after what seemed like hours, to find he was in his room at the apartment. The relief and confusion weighed in at about 50/50. He wanted to be puking his guts out near his romantic interest, dammit! But at least he was out of that eerie feeling hospital. He sat up and was immediately over taken by major head pain. He was already used to it though. So he just shook it off. He couldn't shake off his thoughts of Sasha and the concern that they weren't exactly helping her. It was after he stood up he saw her next to him. (I slept with her and didn't even know it?) Rhys' first thought was. She wasn't in the best position considering the gaping hole in her side. Straight on her belly with one leg arched upwards. Her clothes weren't those of hospital robes, but her old familiar clothing. As much as he wanted to wake her up, he decided she needs rest. He put his socks and shoes on and headed out of the bedroom. On his way out, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "AH WHA-" The hand covered his mouth. "Hi." The sweet voice whispered. Sasha was on her tip-toes to cover Rhys' mouth. She stood normally after her presence sank in to Rhys. "Are you oka- nevermind. You're clearly okay. I should ask what happened... so. What happened?"

"That doesn't matter Rhys. I don't really know either. But I do remember how scared you were. I wanted to guarentee I was fine to calm you down but I wasn't sure either. My side's still killing me. I shouldn't be standing..." She sat back down and he followed. "Thanks. I'm not sure how we got there, I don't want to believe I was about to die. I don't want to believe you carried me. But I do remember how you fucked that Psycho up... Hero." "Ah. Well, thanks. The Shriek Streak really proved my heroism. Only puked 4 times." Sasha took a bit to click in. "Ohh yeahh! That ride!" She began to giggle. "You were about to shit yourself on the way down." "Yeah... ABOUT to shit myself..." "You get so cute when you're fidgiting around and nervous." Rhys looked up. "Did the big bad Sasha show her affection for the Rhys?" he remarked. "Eh.. take it as a fair compliment." "Well you look cute when you-uhm... when you go all badass with your gun." "Well you look cute when you get caught looking at me." "Well you look cute when you fall asleep next to me in my bedroom." "Well you look cute when you..." they caught a glare as they finished "... when you pinky promise me." They both leaned in and snuck a short 2 second kiss in. "Well, I have a splitting headache. I'm gonna go back to sleep.. I'll be on my.. bed. Care to j-join me then come along I guess." He laid down and shut his eyes. The feeling of Sasha's head resting on his belly eased his headache. The two fell asleep within a few minutes, both treasuring the kiss. 


	5. Chapter 5 Won't leave you

The 2nd time Rhys woke up, Sasha wasn't in the room with him. Instead, he was greeted with another blessing : The smell of her cooking. (Yessss I could go for an egg sandwich) Rhys thought as he stood up and stretched. His headache was gone. (This morning's going way too good so far) he carefully considered as he exited his room. The chillout room was a mess. All 4 of their rooms connected to a single room, so they called it the chillout room. The TV wasn't the best, but a 30' flatscreen was alright. The kitchen wasn't technically a kitchen, since it was supposed to function as a mini-bar. The group didn't need anything special, a simple setup does the job.

Sasha was in the makeshift kitchen, sitting down on the wooden stool. She looked upset. He walked in and she greeted him with a sigh. "Hey Rhys..." she said. "Hey Sasha. Everything cool?" He asked. She sighed yet again and stood up to flip the sandwich. "You hungry?" "Of course! I love your sandwiches." He tried to cheer her up. She smiled for a split second and returned to the small stool. "I'll put another on." "Are you okay, Sasha?" "No.. not really. Can't lie." "I can talk.." Rhys was encouraging her to talk for nearly 10 minutes straight. She gave in. "Okay, fine. If you'll stop.. Fiona and Vaughn saw last night and they tried talking me out of getting too close with anyone." She said with a tint of sorrow. "Did they say why?" Rhys asked. He was shocked his other 2 friends would try to do something like this.

"They must still be adjusting from Pandora. They told me that's how you get hurt, is by getting bonds with people that will go easily." "But I won't go from you easily." Rhys guarenteed. "They mean dying, Rhys..." "I'm not going anytime soon." "Are you sure?" "I'm pretty sure not. I could live on your sandwiches if I had to." He tried to void away from the subject. "Yes Rhys, warship my sandwiches." "Fine, I will. Already am. How can you not-" "Rhys please stop talking about my sandwiches for a second." "Okayy. How's your side feeling?" "You know I almost forgot about that. It started to bleed during the night, so I went to the bathroom. That's when..." Sasha wrapped her arms around Rhys. "I don't care what they say. You know, they can't tell me what to do and feel like." "They didn't have to say that. I would probably be as upset as you."

Rhys looked down at her "You know, we've never been on a 'date'." "Fiona and Vaughn left somewhere, so we have the day..." Rhys knelt on a knee, grabbing Sasha's hand. "Would you be my date to a select random place of our choosing?" "Of course I will." She replied with a few giggles. "So now comes the time that we decide where to go..." "Somewhere we don't have to stretch a lot I guess." "The classic restaurant? Like the cartoons" "I hate classic. How about an arcade?" After some consideration, they agreed. "Alright, but let's try to not waste 100 dollars on a first person shooter games this time. Sasha shrugged and said "They're fun. What can I say." "But we could have had a pair of dice last time!" "Yeah but I had fun right?" "You did have fun. Let's get ready I guess."

Rhys finished his sandwich and waited about 2 minutes before hearing Sasha struggle around getting dressed. "Everything good?" He asked at her door. "Yeah yeah... If I could get this shirt on without my side flaming up." "Need somethin? I think we have bandages." "Yeah that would we great." Rhys went on a search, the bandage roll was under the sink. "Uh Rhys! I think I opened it again.." She called to him. (Dammit...) He thought as he made his way back to her door. "How bad is it? Still wanna go?" "Of course I want to go. It isn't that bad.. just come in Rhys. It's fine." Rhys walked in after a bit of a hesitation. She had a red hoodie on and was lifting it near the wound. "Could you put it on? I don't think I can." "Of course I will. He started on her right hip to the rib cage on her left, then back to her right side. "Wait what's gonna hold it u-" he said as it fell off. Sasha gave a few claps. "Well done.." "Isn't this stuff called medical tape? It doesn't even stick." "You need to tie it..." "I'll just tape it. That gonna be fine?" "Suuure. Can't tie a knot?" "Just look at my boot..."

Looking down, Sasha now just realized he didn't have shoe laces. "Oh my God! You can't tie your shoes! Ohh my God that is hilarious...!" "I never had to. Besides, shoes with laces always cost more." "Yeah alright. Just.. go get the tape. I'll hold it." Rhys got the tape and came back. Sasha was sitting on her bed. He sat next to her. "Where do you think Vaughn and Fiona went?" She asked. "Meh, that doesn't matter. What does matter is they took the car, I took a peek outside. We gotta walk." The arcade place was only a few blocks over anyways, but in Sasha's condition Rhys wasn't sure if it was a good idea. "That's fine. It's just... Do you think one of them likes one of us or something?" She asked with a sly smile. "Well that would probably explain what they told you. Still thinking they might tell me the same thing." She scooted closer to Rhys, so he grabbed her left side. "Wait, you knotted it didn't you?" "Well, yeah. I didn't want tape on me." "You could have told me. 30 seconds of my life wasted." He rested his head on hers. "You're short... you know. I don't mind it, but I find it pretty adorable." She blushed at this. "Yeah.. we should go." "Alright, maybe there's hardly anyone there." They stood and made their way to the door. She grabbed her sunglasses, he grabbed her free hand. 


	6. Chapter 6 Re-evaluation

The autumn weather was enough to make the two stay close together. Okay, maybe it wasn't just the weather. It was most likely not just the weather. It's safe to say the both of them were surprised at how their relationship towards each other grew within a few days. They were already fairly close friends, but the couple was glad they took the next step.

"So.. how much money did you actually bring?" Sasha asked Rhys. Rhys wasn't entirely sure, so he dug through his pocket. He was surprised to see a note, as well as a few 20 dollar bills. They weren't that rich, and the note...  
"Well I have 160 dollars.. Got a note somehow, also." He opened the paper to recognize the handwriting.

*Hey bro, so you got knocked out. Scary doctahs. We got Sasha checked out and had to carry you guys out. Fiona and I went to store to buy stuff. Take this money and.. I dunno. Do something. Take the gal somewhere maybe? -V* 160 dollars? A high budget to just go to some arcade.

"Are you sure you just wanna go to an arcade? I have one hundred and sixty eight dollars. More potential than games."

"Well I can't think of anywhere." The whole group's never been anywhere very high end.

"Restaurant's still an optiiiion." Rhys hummed while they tried to figure where to go.

"Don't you love plain and boring?" Sasha replied.

"No but it's food. I mean, why not."

"I want food but not just sitting and eating. That's boring. And plain." Sasha left it at that, they brainstormed as they walked. And walked. And walked... Until the thought of a laser tag arena came into Sasha's mind.

"I've only been there like twice. Pleeease? They have Ice Cream sundaes!" She asked like she was a little kid.

"You know what? Why not! Sounds fun. You know where one is?"

"We always drove past it, when we head to the grocery store. You don't remember me asking like every time we pass?"

"No.. I must have never caught it. Only kidding! I know where it is." He pointed in the direction of the place.

"You know I should have known you knew. You stalker." She knudged his arm.

"Yeah. So what are we waiting for? Laser Tag awaits!"

"Well I can't argue with that. Even though that was a corny way to say 'let's go to laser tag'" The 2 started to walk towards the place. When they got there, it was surprisingly full. The line progressed quickly, but the inside was pretty crowded. They bought tickets at the counter, and had to wait with a group of mainly.. younger people. They were around 10 years old. Their alleged parents were following them around the hub area.

"Would everyone for the 1 AM-1:15 AM game line up!" An announcer. Well... announced. Luckily, this would be their first game.

"We should both go on green." Rhys said to Sasha.

"Why green though? Red looks pretty nice."

"Because.. your eyes. I like them, they're green. So why not green team?" Sasha accidentally let her face blush.

"Yeah.. I guess we'll go green." They strapped into the green vests. It was about 12:57, they had 3 minutes to just chill around in the waiting room. Which was 2 couches and a 2ft by 4ft playing area for kids. Wasn't the best. The vests weren't very high end either. Just classic LED lights with sensors in them. The guns were so light you didn't even have to try, and there was no way to show the scores. Rhys and Sasha stood in a corner, away from everyone else.

"Are you gonna be alright in there? I-I know I sound like.. All protective. But you can't be sure." Rhys asked Sasha.

"I'm pretty sure it's okay. It probably stopped now... right?"

"But what if it didn't? And even if that, what if you go a bit too badass in there?"

"Rhys my badassery is always kept at a special balance. I doubt anything'll happen."

"Does it still hurt? A-and is it bleeding?"

"Why don't you check? Afraid I'll bite?"

"No-nah it's not that. I-If you want. I guess I'll look at it." Rhys moved a little closer and stood awkwardly by her side.

"Well...?"

"Well..."

"Didn't I say I won't bite?"

"You asked if I was afraid to bite... To- uh- to be fair."

"Fine. I trust you to lift my hoodie just enough to see... that. Thing. Not the things on my- Just look at the cut." Yes, here you should insert a QTE of pulling Sasha's hoodie up. No, you should not picture such extreme imagery! Shame on you! Go clean your mind and come back when you're ready... Oh. Uh. Anyways. As Rhys saw the bandages, there was quite a bit of blood.

"Y... yo... you don't.. FEEL... anything?" He asked slowly.

"Why, is it bad?" Sasha asked, for once looking down at Rhys.

"It's.. not... The best... Are you hydrated? Because I'm pretty sure... I'm gonna get you something to drink." He said as he walked off.

"Well hurry back.. It starts in like a minute." She was left alone in the corner. She thought the blood would be much more than what it actually was. She was actually in excruciating pain. But, she couldn't have told Rhys. He would over react and they would go back home. Sasha thought about the last time she was in one of these places. Probably about 3 years ago. Rhys was thinking about what would happen if Sasha didn't have enough body fluid to keep herself steady from bloodloss. The line was fairly short, and the drinks were pretty expensive. He paid 13 dollars for the medium drink. Her favorite : a cherry smoothie. He made his way back. Sasha was sitting against the wall on the floor. She looked pained, and Rhys' arrival took her a bit by surprise.

"Oh hey, you're back. I think they're starting." Sasha rose to her feet slowly, heavily using the wall.

"Um.. everything alright?" Rhys eyed her when she was halfway in a stance. He approached and put her arm on his shoulder.

"Yeah, just needed help getting up. It should be fine though, promise." She glared straight forward and pulled her arm back from Rhys.

"I think you know what we should do.." He held out a pinkie. She put hers out and they interlock. They did this every time they used the word promise, except for some occasions. The two joined the other large group in the introduction room. After that, they entered the seemingly ongoing maze, the battle area.

(Had to divide into 2 halves. Tried a new recommended technique to clean up the paragraphs. Lemme know in private messaging if you wanna recommend something.) 


	7. Chapter 7 Trustworthy

At first, Sasha held the drink as she got the first 5 'kills' with one hand. She sat in a corner and told Rhys she was gonna drink her smoothie.

"I'll be fine here, just gonna finish this."

"Alright, I guess I'll have to be the badass lone wolf-guy-alpha-male-thing."

"Yeah you should go, you just got tagged." She pointed her gun and shot a laser at the hostile. These kids were FAST.

"Alright, I'm gonna come back in a few minutes. We do have 15 so. Yeah. Ack HEY! Get back here!" Rhys ran off after the kid that was spawn camping him. Sasha stayed, without drinking her smoothie. She had a sudden load of pain in her stomach. It was overwhelming her, and it started so fast. She didn't really feel sick, but it hurt so bad she thought she was. She thought she was dehydrated, so she took a few drinks of her smoothie. Meanwhile, Rhys was getting lit up left and right. He couldn't even see most of the people.

"HOW?! Through the wall? God dammit!" He was getting.. pretty mad. And the little kids were only running about 300 miles per hour around him as he tried to focus on a target. They had to be on steroids, he concluded. He started to hide in the coves they designed in the maze. All that did was... well...

"Camper! Everyone on red, there's a camper!" A kid called for his team to surround Rhys.

"This isn't my first rodeo!" He called as he spammed his trigger to take out at least 5 red people.

"You noob! Get out of there camper!"

"IT'S A LEGIT STRATEGY!" Rhys screamed. He kept spamming the trigger down the one way path leading to him.

"Let's just go find someone else!" One of the kids yelled as they migrated out of the area. Rhys waited a few minutes to be sure. At least 6 minutes had passed, so he went back to look for Sasha. All he memorized was the familiar circular holes in the wall, signifying the green base. It was already taken out, so somebody had points that they could never view. Rhys had to go incognito. He had to keep.. a low... profile. He had to have hidden from at least 3 blue and the 5 familiar reds. The game was at 13/15 minutes, so he felt no need to be stealthy anymore.

"Sasha! I'm lost! Where are you?" He heard fumbling around the corner. When he peeped around, the recognizable face was there.

"Hey.. um. Rhys. We should.. go." She said as she began to walk quickly.

"What's wrong? There's still 2 minutes. I thought you wanted t-" She cut him off and pushed him to the side. The footsteps of a hyper child passed by them. Sasha peeked around the corner to make sure no one was around.

"Rhys. I'm.. bleeding." She whispered to him. Her smoothie in her other hand, she dragged him towards a darker area.

"W.. what do you mean? Your side right?" He asked.

"No.." She kept moving with an expression of . He stopped and pulled his arm from her.

"What's wrong, Sasha? You don't have to be scared to tell me." She let out a sigh and went under the light. Rhys was horrified.

"U-W-Um.. Wh..." He was speechless. The blood was a little more... down. Than her stab wound.

"Yeah.. we should.. go. You know how bad this hurts? It hurts. A lot." She sharply said as she made her way to the exit.

"I never said it didn't hur-.. We can't just walk out there. They'll freak out when they see... that."

"Well I'm open to suggestions." Rhys took a second. He stopped Sasha.

"What are you doi-" He took the smoothie from her and regretfully poured the drink on his T-Shirt, on his Jeans, and on some parts of his open skin.

"You're gonna owe me big time.. these were my favorite clothes." Sasha was taken back by what Rhys just did. She didn't expect him to do anything like that.

"Any of that left? It's gotta be.. believable..."

"No.. Nah. You'll be fine. Story is I bumped into you on accident." He lead Sasha to the exit. When they reached the door he was about to pound on it. Sasha placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Look.. I'm sorry this is ruining our day. I ruined a lot of things. I feel bad, to be honest. I wish I could stop the.. gah you know. Anyways, I just want you to know that it means a lot to do that to yourself. I'm probably not worth it an-" Rhys shushed her before she finished. He placed his palm under her chin and rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

"You need to trust me, y-you are definitely worth it-a-and you don't ruin anything... My day's gonna be fine as long as you're fine." He wanted her to know she wasn't an obstacle for him.

"You help me. Without even trying. Y..you should know that" She knew she wasn't an obstacle for him. Sasha pulled Rhys' head down to hers and their lips locked. They pulled away, gasping for air.

"W..We should.. Um.. Go. Door.." Rhys barely mumbled.

"Yeah... Door." Sasha repeated. Rhys pounded on it until someone answered.

"What do ye wan- oh. What went down in there? Better not be any bodies cuz I'm not cleaning a body.. Again." The guy that opened the door said. Rhys stared blank ahead. Sasha nudged his shoulder.

"OH! Uh... bump.. accident. Spil-" She nudged his side as she took over.

"Well I had a smoothie and he turned the corner, we were both in a rush. So we have to go now for obvious reasons."

"Alright. Better not be any on the floor."

"There's not. Bye!" Sasha called as they walked out of the waiting area and out the front door. They leaned against the wall next to the door.

"Rhys... I mean it. Thanks so much, it means a lot that you did that for me. I.. it may be the hormones. I'm not sure. I just feel like.. I don't know.."

"It's um.. No problem. Well-There is one problem. Explaining what happened to Vaughn and Fiona. They aren't gonna just see these stains and forget about them." Sasha's head fell down.

"We can tell them the same.." She said sounding distant.

"Yeah but they can tell the difference between... blood... and a smoothie. Especially in a well lit area." He wasn't wrong. Sasha and Rhys were really the only ones that respected privacy in their household.

"Yeah.. you're right. I guess the, truth?" Sasha said, reluctantly.

"Whatever we say-and whatever they say-I'll be there next to you. We should get you home though.. can't imagine that... is.. pleasant.." He replied.

"Yeah, let's go. I just hope nothing else happens because of me." Rhys pulled Sasha closer to his right side. They began the walk home, which would at least be 15 minutes. Sasha had to stop many times because of her cramps. At 6 blocks from their apartment, she was hurting so bad she was barely mobile. Rhys, with the blessing of adrenaline, was able to carry her about 4 blocks of the way. He had to stop when his arm became sore, when she insisted he put her down.

"No I think I can go the rest of the way. You're hurting an-"

"Stop. I can make it. I don't want you to. I'm fine."

"Last time you said tha-"

"I know what happened 'last time'. But this time it's serious. Thanks for the 4 blocks though, I can make the rest." Rhys reluctantly agreed to let her walk. They reached the front of the parking lot to see their car.

"Well, they're home.. What's the plan?" He asked.

"We should just tell them the truth to eliminate any drama. Let's just go, I'm going to bed." They walked in the door to see Fiona and Vaughn were watching TV.

"Oh, hey gu- Woahhh! What happened bro?" Vaughn asked. Fiona turned to see the same sight.

"Sash, is it the.. you know.." She nodded and looked down to hide her face. Fiona got up and approached them.

"Let's just get you to your room..." Fiona walked with Sasha to her room and Rhys followed.

"Why am I always left out! Would it hurt to just tell me what's going on for once? Seriously!" Vaughn called from the couch.

"Vaughn this is something you don't wanna be involved in, bro."

"Did- ugh. Were you guys killing people? Cause it looks like.." The sisters closed the door and Rhys waited outside. In a few minutes, Fiona came out. She pulled Rhys into her room, passing by Vaughn, which was muttering about how he deserved to be involved more. She closed the door behind her.

"So.. I take it you know what's happening. And it is unpleasant for us. So don't start that 'oh it's just bleeding' crap. There is a lot. And right now she seems normal, but you will not want be around her in time. Trust me there." Fiona stated.

"Alright that's.. um.. Why am I in here?" Rhys asked. He'd hardly been in Fiona's room. She never lets anyone except Sasha in there, so he was confused why he was in here.

".. You seriously. Do not want to be remotely close to Sasha while this.. cycle.. takes it's toll. She get's mad like so easily and she's going to go apeshit if she doesn't have chocolate and all that other good stuff."

"But you don't understand. I think she's going to be fine with me around."

"I don't think you're understanding. This time changes peop- girls. It will make them want to kill everything and anything. So don't try anything, all I'm saying."

"Fine, not sure what I would try but-"

"You can go now. Dismissed." Fiona basically meant to get out of her room, but she never says that. Rhys walked out... To head to Sasha's room immediately.

"Hey, bro. Please tell me what's happening!?" Vaughn called as Rhys walked by.

"You do not want to get involved. It's better that you stick to spaceball games bro." He replied as he entered the hall.

"Fine! Okay! I have an interesting thing you'll never know! He'll never know I'm holding in a pee so I can fini- ah dammit!" Rhys knocked on the door. He heard moving around and then her voice.

"C-come in." She called as she struggled to do something. Rhys walked in to see she changed her clothes.

"Oh. Hey Rhys. Sit." She said as he closed the door behind him.

"Hey Sasha. How are you feeling?" He said as he sat down.

"Eh. Shitty. But I'm glad you're here. I told Fiona what happened. She said she's not washing your clothes." She smiled and turned to lay down.

"So.. what'd she say?" Rhys asked as he fell backwards on the bed. He tilted his head to see Sasha had now burrowed her head into her arms. He rotated himself and crawled up next to her, wrapping his left arm from her waist to her stomach.

"I won't leave you. I-I can stay here if you want." She was now very obviously crying. He didn't want to see her in pain anymore, physical or emotional. He placed his head on her shoulder.

"You can tell me. I'll listen, I will. I'll help you stop crying... I will. It makes me want to cry when you cry. It does. Please talk to me, Sasha." She looked at him without moving her head.

"Sh.. she said you w-were probably gonna hide at times like these. When I need you." She said, trembling.

"You hardly cry. I know. Why would you believe her? I'm right here, I won't leave you." He said as he ran his robot hand under her side.

"Just.. I'm not sure. I may not look it, but I've never really had anybody to trust, Rhys. Fiona isn't gonna really count, she's my sister. I mean, August doesn't count either since..."

"You know you can trust me. Right, Sasha? Because, you can trust me. Fiona tried to tell me to stay away from you. But I'm too nice like that, even snuck into your room. I don't get toyed with, but toys get me'd. M-Okay that made no sense. Anyways, I can tell you that I will be here for you, you give me hope. I want to return the favor." At this point, Sasha seemed to have calmed down. She turned to face him, with her eyes bloodshot from crying. She had a grin on her face.

"Thanks.. It means a lot. I never liked to stab people's backs and steal from them. You and.. Vaughn showed up, and I thought we were going to do it again. And we almost did, but we must have gotten lucky."

"Yeah.. I guess so." They kept eye contact as they talked for hours. Sasha had to get up several times because of her cramps and changing the cloths, but that didn't stop them very much. They felt more and more bonded hour after hour. When about 12AM rolled around, Rhys reluctantly stood up.

"I better go.. to bed..." He said as he walked off. Sasha grabbed his hand as he walked past her.

"You wanna.. um.. stay in here tonight?" She asked, looking up at Rhys.

"Of course I will stay in here tonight." He replied. Her queen sized bed fit the both of them comfortably. They slept on opposite sides while facing each other. 


	8. Chapter 8 Responsibilities

Rhys had never caught more than 4 hours of sleep total. It wasn't really when she had to replace her bandages. He kept waking up to make sure Sasha was still breathing. He knew she was okay, but at the same time he didn't know. That was sometimes a virtue for him, but almost never was it useful, as it caused him to barely keep awake when 9:00 rolled around. He couldn't fall back to sleep, but his eyes felt like anvils. He sat up in Sasha's bed slowly to not wake her up.. and immediately failed when he slipped on a sock.

"Woah. What jus-" Sasha rose quickly. Rhys gave a nervous smile as he came into view.

"I was in a nice dream, you jerk.." She said with a smile. She turned back into her covers and closed her eyes.

"What was it about?" He asked curiously.

"Nothiiin. I'm just gonna get some more sleep. It's been a rough night. Thanks.. for staying."

"I-It's no problem.. I mean. It was comfortable.. the bed. And-and you were pretty nice to sleep ne-next to." Rhys said as he walked a bit closer to her. She turned and looked at him with a look of sorrow.

"I know you didn't sleep.. I'm sorry. I just wanted someone to be with. It hurt a lot less with you in here." She said as she was drifting back to sleep.

"Th.. that's fine. Just come get me anytime you need, I'll come. Promise..?" He said. No response.

"..Sasha? You didn't fall asleep that fast.. did you?" He asked as he walked towards her. When he put his arm out to touch her shoulder, her arm stretched back and grabbed his arm quickly.

"GAH! Oh my.. GOD! Please do not do that!" He jumped back as she started giggling. He started to laugh too after a few seconds.

"Oh.. that's never gonna get old. I can already tell." She said. Rhys sat down next to her.

"I can stay in here until you fall back to sleep if you want."

"Nah.. I think I'll be fine. Go do your stuff you do in the morning."

"Like what? I don't really do anything.."

"I dunno. I wanna sleep though, so you figure that out." Sasha said, now laying on her back. Rhys stood there just blankly looking forward.

"You can go now..." She said.

"No.. YOU can go now..." He repeated back.

"But this is my room..."

"Well you're my.. um.. responsibility?"

"But you just said I can g-"

"I. I know-what I said. I do not know why. So we can just forget that."

"It is ridiculously hard to get rid of you..!" She said while laughing at his awkwardness.

"Yeah, I can't blame everything on the ice cr-.. I'm just gonna.. go now... so. Sw.. sweet dreams." He went to kiss her on the cheek, but she turned her head, so instead they made contact on the lips. Rhys didn't mind it, neither did she. He felt he'd bothered her enough. So he left the room as Sasha went back to sleep. When he went in the living area, he saw Vaughn on the couch. He sat next to him, and noticed Vaughn hadn't moved from last night.

"Bro..?" Rhys said as Vaughn stared blankly at the TV screen.

"78 times." Vaughn said.

"78 times for.. what exactly?"

"Seventy eight. Victories."

"Why say it like it's a bad thing?"

"BECAUSE RHYS! THEY WERE ALL THE SAME VICTORY...! Over and over and over again!"

"OH GOD! WHY would you watch the same game for 78 times?!"

"BECAUSE RHYS! There was nothing... else... on."

"Vaughn have you.. gotten any sleep?"

"No Rhys. No. The games hypnotized me..."

"You should go. To. Bed."

"NO! Because.. I have decieved you Rhys! I have only watched the Spaceball game 5 times in a row before falling asleep on the couch. And you seem in a good mood."

"Ahhh.. You got me. How'd you know I was coming?" Vaughn finally turned his head.

"Bro, these walls are as thin as skin. Yes that was an intentional rhyme. Or.. was it? Am I decieving you again, Rhys?"

"I have no idea. So what all... did you hear?" Rhys asked, hoping he didn't hear much.

"Oh... I heard everything. Nice moving in on the gal." He said in an approving tone.

"R-Really? Because I was told you would be the opposite of congratulating me." Vaughn was confused for a second. Then he remembered.

"Ohhhh yeah. Sasha told you, huh. Well let me explain what happened..."

"Now letting you explain what happened..."

"Right. So. You already know how Fiona's out there being like... 1000% in Sasha's grill.. right?"

"Yes.."

"Well. She saw what had happened 2 nights ago and she flipped. So she paid me like 200 bucks to help her talk Sasha out of it-being the dating you part."

"So you accepted mone-"

"Ah ap! Let me finish. I took this to help a bro out and... guess where that money came from? The pay I got. The other 80 was... Well. Never trust a conwoman. I was forced to spend it on groceries. Sucks."

"So you took the money... and planned ahead so I could go take her on a date..."

"Yes! It may not have been the best idea-"

"Bro.. that's so... FRIGGEN COOL! I owe you one man. Even though the whole date went down in flames." He formed a fist and raised it.

"What, you guys lit the place on fire?" Vaughn brofisted Rhys.

"Wha..? N.. No. Just a situation happened and we had to leave."

"Ah. I see.. Well I guess you guys have yet to tell me.." He looked down.

"Bro, do you seriously want to know? I don't think you do. I know I didn't."

"Rhys you are not helping my curiousity. Yes.. I wanna know!" Rhys took a deap breath and said the words quickly.

"Sasha hit her period during the date and we had to leave so I poured a drink on me." Vaughn's jaw dropped. He sat there staring at Rhys as he was looking straight ahead.

"Um... Can't imagine that was pleasant.. So you DIDN'T kill someone. Huh! To think I called the police.."

"What?!"

"I'm playing..Got you! Again!" He started chuckling under his breath.

"Now's not the time.. I'm like. Sooo tired."

"You didn't sleep well with Sasha, heh?" Rhys immediately turned and widened his eyes.

"How did you know that?" He asked trembling.

"I may be younger than you, but I am not deaf or blind. Your door creeks. Sasha's clicks." Rhys now questioned what else Vaughn knew about his 3 friends.

"Well I know you used to get up at night and lay on the floor next to the bathroom.. do not know why. Fiona makes sandwiches at midnight. Sasha just sleeps.. Yeah you guys are loud. Work on that."

"I would call you a stalker but.. that's legit. Sometimes I get woken up by your shadow passing my face. I actually wake up easily.." Rhys trailed off as he heard motion in Sasha's room. He turned to the clock and saw it had been about 30 minutes since he left her room.

"Cmon bro. Now's your time." Vaughn said, nudging his shoulder.

"She just told me she was tired though. Maybe she's just fixing her bed or something." Seconds after he said that, her door opened and closed. His peripheral vision detected a figure moving around the corner. Rhys tried to continue a casual conversation.

"Ah-he-hem. So I heard that spaceball game last night was preetty inteeense..!" He said to Vaughn.

"Bro. No. Don't even... Hey Sasha!"

"What do you mean? Sasha was aslee-"

"Rhys. You aren't really good at these types of things." Her voice was right next to his ear, making him nearly jump.

"OH! Uh.. Hello there." Rhys said as he turned towards her. She was sitting on the arm of the couch, facing opposite from them.

"Hi Vaughn" Sasha said. Before Rhys could start complaining, she slid backwards and rested her head on Rhys' lap.

"Hey Rhys." She said while looking up at him. He shifted his eyes towards Vaughn, who was now giving him a thumbs up. He looked down at her.

"You look like you just got so much sleep..."

"Got none at all."

"Still hurting?" He asked her with a concerned look. They kept eye contact.

"Yeah.. It hurts a lot. Not sure what is worse..."

"I'm always here. I may not be able to do much, but I will try my best. I hate when you're in pain." Rhys laid his arm across her belly and gripped her side. Sasha put her arm around his back in return and shifted upwards.

"You do know that, right? It does hurt me when things hurt you." She looked away.

"I hate when I'm an obstacle to other people. Life's hard enough." Vaughn was now observing the conversation.

"How could you ever say that? The only obstacle you are to me is that you aren't near me enough. And trust me, my life gets a lot easier around you. I want to make yours easier, too." He now held his head a few inches above of hers.

"You do. I feel good when I'm near you. Thanks for that."

"It's just my job now. I should really thank you. So... Thank you." She smirked as he said this.

"Well if it's now your job... I want some chocolate please." She had a look that said she was challenging him.

"I-I don't think we have chocolate... pick something else?"

"Nah. Chocolate. Almonds." She stated and poked his chest with a grin.

"Buuut we don't have chocolate.. Why do this to me?"

"So.. go get some." She pointed now towards the car keys. He looked reluctantly at them and back at her.

"It's raiiiniiiing..." He complained.

"Oh well. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and take a shower. By the time I get out I expect it." She stood and went to her room.

"Well. Let's go.." Rhys said, rising.

"Where are you going?" Vaughn asked.

"To get her chocolate... am I not supposed to?"

"I didn't think she was serious. Was she serious?"

"Definitely. Let's go man."

"Let's? You read my mind." They walked out of the door quietly. 


	9. Chapter 9 Without Me

"Um.. That's a lot of people."

"Yeah.. that is..." Rhys pulled out of the parking lot and went back up the street.

"Where are we going?" Vaughn asked.

"Well, Vaughn. I appear to have forgotten my wallet. And I can't purchase anything without money. Speaking of, want those dollars back you gave me?"

"Oh. Nah, man. I'm paying you back for that time at the milkshake joint."

"I have like 47 bucks left. I didnt spend that much on you."

"Mmm-yeah. Just keep it, won't breathe down your neck for it back."

"Well. Thanks. I'll get you back- wow that sounds evil. Sorry. I will PAY you back. Better? Better."

"Yeah.. Just drive." So.. They drove. When Rhys and Vaughn walked up the stairs, they heard mumbling from in the apartment. They looked at each other and then opened the door. They heard the faint voices of Fiona and Sasha from the kitchen.

"...stop telling me what to do, Fi!"

"I'm not. I'm just telling you this is a bad idea. And it's not going to end very nicely."

"You don't know that." Sasha noticed Rhys as he leaned against the wall, listening.

"Yes. I do. He's not strong enough for you..."

"So..? Who said he had to be strong?"

".. Sasha. He needs to be strong in case something happens, which he is not."

"There's almost nothing that will happen that him and I that we can't handle, together."

"And what happens if someone attacks you? What's he going to do?"

"HE'S going to get his ass kicked for her." Rhys spoke up. He was now standing straight. Fiona turned to face him. She was silent for a few seconds, and then finally talked again.

"And then what? She's attached to you and you get beat up so bad you die. She'll be destroyed."

"She can handle herself. I know that. And I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon."

"You could easily turn out to want to hurt her. We never know."

"Stop being so skeptical, Fiona. I told you I would never hurt her. I.. hate... when she's in pain. Why would I cause more?"

"Trusting peoples' word means nothing nowadays. Actions are more convincing."

"They do more than talk, though! You're being too skeptical, Fiona. If they want to be together, just, please let them." Vaughn had spoke out.

"'More than talk'? What's that mean?" She asked.

"You know what I mean."

"That was one time."

"No, it happened twice." Rhys and Sasha shot a look at Vaughn.

"What? She wanted to know."

"Well-Yeah. But shouldn't that be something WE say?"

"Sorry then.."

"So you sleep with my sister now. That's your regular thing?"

"Well... when you put it like that..."

"And if he does 'sleep' with me?" Sasha said.

"You two have been dating for like 2 days, not counting all the other times you guys 'went somewhere' together. You're taking it a bit too fast."

"Who ever set a limit to how fast you could like someone? And why are you trying to hard to break us up? We aren't doing anything to you."

"You are making me think about your future life."

"No she's not! You are. She didn't tell you to worry about her. So what if she wants to date Rhys? If it goes bad, why would you worry about her mistake? Sasha doesn't need you to guide her, but you can be there IF she needs you. You can't just force her to live how you want her to." Vaughn said to Fiona. After this, the 4 now stood facing each other, in complete silence. Eventually, Sasha made a move for the door.

"Where are yo-" Fiona asked as she opened the door.

"Rhys, let's go." Sasha told him. He looked at Vaughn.

"Alright, let me grab my wallet then.." He took it off the table and turned with a face of regret to Vaughn and Fiona.

"I-I'll see you guys... later..." He went through the door to see where Sasha went, and found her directly next to the door. Not a long search. She started to walk down the stairs.

"Sasha.. Where are we going?" Rhys asked as he followed.

"I need to go somewhere. And since I can't drive, for obvious reasons, you will."

"I. Uh. Repeat-where are we going?"

"I don't know..."

"Well I still owe you chocolate..."

"I was joking about that. But I appreciate the concern."

"I can go buy it. I grabbed money, which is the reason I came back in the first place. Why was she doing that? If I can ask."

"She has her mind set that it's going to end bad between us..."

"Yeah-Well I know that. But what started that 'conversation'? If you don't mind." She stopped walking, and sighed.

"I guess she's 'concerned' about me. I don't know why. She's been trying to tell me to stop associating with you since we moved out of Pandora. It's way less dangerous here, though. I don't understand why she's worried."

"She has no reason to be. As you know from earlier demonstrations of my bravery and awesomeness, I can handle you! And I'm sure it's obvious you can handle me. So why not?" He shrugged.

"I'm not that comfortable right now. Many reasons, obviously. But I'd rather not be this pissed at my sister, ever again."

"Do you wanna do something to get your mind off it?" Sasha had seemed lost in her thoughts.

"Rhys, I have an idea... follow me." She suddenly darted off into the forest near the apartments. Rhys tried to follow, but got lost after the similar trees surrounded him like a maze formation.

"Sasha!" He called out, navigating through several plants and trees.

"Hey..! I got lost!" There was still no answer.

"God dammit..." He cursed to himself. He searched almost every corner near where he last saw her. After a period of time, he heard leafs crunching near him. Of course, he turned and there she was.

"You get lost... like. Way too easily.." Sasha grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction she came from.

"Hey, Sasha. Um... Where are we going? I feel like that's an important detail and all. We sort of are in the middle of a huge forest and all.."

"I can say 'you'll see'. But that's a bit too evil. How do you feel about... climbing up a tree?" Rhys took this as a time to.. be himself.

"A tree? Um.. you know what happened to me last time I climbed a tree, right?"

"No.. please do share?"

"Well, I made it to the top and fell down, hard. I hit my eyeball on a branch and my arm got caught inside of the tree. Which is why I have robotic body parts. So.. I really hate trees." He tried to hold in chuckles.

"Wow! Rhys.. That's... um.."

"Ha! I'm only kidding! I never climbed a tree though, so this will definitely be new... I guess."

"Well I found these super awesome trees that you may-or may not-love."

"Please do show?"

"Alright. If you dare, follow me." The two advanced in the forest, one of them looking for the tree and one of them staring for a bit too long. You could probably guess the roles of each. They suddenly halted, facing the log of a tree that had several thick, bare branches.

"I would suppose... this is it?"

"Mhm. Yeah.. Try to not stare at me while I'm climbing?"

"W-What? I-I wasn't staring..."

"Rhys.. You were just staring at me. All you probably heard was 'not stare'..." Sasha gave a skeptical eyebrow raise to him.

"Uh.. Am I not allowed to? I thought I was.."

"But you just weren't staring."

"Wait wait wait. You just said you caught me staring. Now I'm nohaat?!" She gripped his arm with a deathly grip.

"Ow. Ow. Owwww." Rhys was practically getting dragged out from under the lower trees. He was greeted with the colorful leafs-mainly pink, some red, a little purple. He was left awestruck at the sight.

"Hey. Um. It gets better, believe it or not." Sasha tried to get him to look down.

"It does..?"

"Yeah. Follow me." She ran and got a grip on the lower branch, lifting her right leg up onto it. She continued this climb upwards while Rhys tried to keep up, his arm was slightly malfunctioning, shaking him as he climbed.

"What's wrong down there?"

"Um.. Not much. The rain's getting to my arm, is all."

"God dammit, we gotta get that thing water proofed one day or something. Can you make it?"

"I should be okay, as long as we have some overhead cover?"

"Just get up here!"

"Right.. getting... up... there.. exhausting... one arm... climb."

"Ack, you're barely 1/4th of the way up! Just.. here. Take my hand." She climbed down a few branches and reached down to him. When she began to pull him up, a sharp pain suddenly filled her side. She clenched her teeth and inhaled, letting go. Rhys fell and immediately grabbed a branch.

"I'm.. sorry.." She barely said while wincing.

"It's fine. Are you okay, though?" He asked, propping himself on the branch.

"Um.. yeah. I think.. Shit! That hurts though."

"I got this, I'll be right there, hang on." Determined to make it up top, he tried to level with his glitchy arm. Eventually, after nearly falling many times, Rhys made it to the patch of leafs. Luckily, there was another layer of leafs to cover from the pouring rain. Sasha was sitting on the leafs, that were somehow holding her.

"Uhhh...Sasha..?"

"Yeah..?"

"Are you aware you are.. Um... SITTING on leafs?!"

"Yeah, fully aware actually. This is the other cool thing I was going to show you."

"Well, THAT looks dangerous."

"Oh come on! Don't be a wuss. I won't let you fall."

"Uhm-Well... Fine." He put the front end of his shoes on the mixture of colors-and to his shock-they didn't budge underneath him. Then, slowly placed his other foot on the layer.

"Woooah..." Rhys made his way, slowly, to where Sasha was sitting. Well, now standing.

"This isn't that bad, right?" She raised an eyebrow towards him.

"Actually? Not really that bad. Considering I'm about 2 centimeters from plummeting to my death, this is pretty fun." The former Hyperion stooge couldn't stop looking down, to make sure he wasn't going to die.

"Just sit down, we can talk if that'll help."

"That would be.. nice." He carefully lowered himself next to her, while she stayed in a stance. After a few minutes, Sasha had a 'conversation starter'.

"Rhys.. Can I ask an honest question?"

"Absolutely. What is it?"

"What would you think would happen if we never met?"

"Hm? Never met? Um.. Helios wouldn't be a pile of trash, we'd never have found this place, I'd never have to give up my hacking ability, yeah. Oh! Vault would not get opened. Ha! We did a lot of important stuff, really."

"Yeah. I suppose that's true. But I meant like what would have happened to you, without me?" The question took Rhys by surprise.

"Without you?"

"Mhm."

"Uh.. I'd still be Hyperion, of course. Probably would have never went on that hell that's known as Pandora. My former boss would have a fake vault key, heh. Oh! Said former boss would be alive. I could be dead since, my nemesis would be ruling my workspace. And the janitor thing... Yeah I'm sort of glad I met... y-...Sasha?" She had vanished from his side. He performed a whole 360 to attempt to locate her, but nothing.

"Sasha." He called.

"So.. you're saying that I made your life worse, Rhys?" He felt a cold touch on his arm. Rhys let out a shriek and turned to see Sasha standing behind him.

"What..? No! I was just about to say how you-"

"Made your life worse? You could have been at the top of Helios, but our con ruined that!" When he looked down in confusion, Sasha had disappeared again.

"Oh, come on! What the hell's going on!?" Rhys called in frustration. He was at a mixture of the verge of tears, anger, and sorrow.

"But, do you really need me? Am I of any use?" Sasha appeared again, this time at the edge of the tree.

"No, no!" He started to run towards her but the leafs he stepped his right foot on gave way. Half of his leg was stuck in the patch. She took a footstep backwards as all he could do was watch, struggling to get out.

"Hey. Rhys. You're gonna be fine without me. You don't need to worry about a thing..."

"Come on, don't! Please!" Tears began to stream down his cheeks. Sasha took another step back.

"I'm not going to hurt anybody, anymore." Another step.

"You... you never hurt me. What the hell, man. What. The. Hell."

"I am right now. Stop crying." Her heels were practically dangling.

"No.. No. I can't, you can't. Please don't do this..." He burrowed his head into his arms, his eyes burning with salt water.

"Goodbye, Rhys." A small grin broke into her face as she fells backwards, spreading her arms. Rhys soon after started to punch the leafs as hard as he could. They eventually collapsed and he began to plummet. Right before he hit the ground, his eyes ripped open, and he broke into a heavy pant. Immediately pushing himself up, he saw three wet spots where his face was.

But on a pillow. In fact, he was on a whole entire bed. Recognizable as his own, due to the blue sheets. Before Rhys was able to observe more, his doornob rattled. And in came the familiar face, Sasha.

"Are you.. okay? I heard your screaming.." She sat down next to Rhys. Without being able to create a response, he grabbed her with both arms. All he could think to say were four words.

"Please.. Never leave me."

"I... I wont." 


End file.
